Iran's head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi attends a seminar at the Japan Institute of International Affairs in Tokyo, Japan, November 5, 2015. REUTERS/Yuya Shino/File Photo
Reuters: Iran builds new centrifuge rotor factory: nuclear chief
(Reuters) - Iran has built a factory that can produce rotors for up to 60 centrifuges a day, the head of its atomic agency said on Wednesday, upping the stakes in a confrontation with Washington over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear work.
The announcement came a month after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he had ordered agencies to prepare to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after Washington’s withdrawal from the pact.
Under the terms of the 2015 agreement, which was also signed by Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
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WNU Editor: By going ahead with their nuclear enrichment program Iran will only put its allies .... the EU, Russia, and China on the spot. And enriching uranium to produce nuclear weapons will only force these allies to impose sanctions. Bottom line .... the Iranian leadership will need to make a decision. What is more important to them .... their allies, or their nuclear program that will only result in across the board sanctions and (probably) a nuclear arms race with its neighbors.
Iran allies are now Turkey, Syria, Russia...and our leader will do zip about nukes
ReplyDelete"...and our leader will zip about nukes." Actually in the run up to the summit Putin and Netanyahu met. Some reporters have reported on this. The timing was not coincidental. The issue of hoe to contain Iran was discussed and according to the Israeli government an agreement that they are comfortable with has been reached. I'm sorry you seem to have missed all of this.
ReplyDeleteThen in steps American domestic politics to undercut all of this including a badly needed mending of relations with Russia. We truly have become a "laughingstock." We went out of our way to pick a fight we didn't need, can't readily afford, may not be able to win, and if we do win we get nothing concrete of value for the investment. Everyone in the world truly is laughing at our leadership and pundit class. Oh wait the Eastern Europeans love their American cannon fodder and useful idiots!!
The American people are generally quite smart. Enough of them did have the good sense to reject HRC as their president and if the election were held today she would likely lose by an even bigger margin. I think the American people will see through this.
With that said Trump may have miscalculated on Iran. I think he largely assumes they are rational actors. The available evidence suggests they may not be. Once Iran calms down and takes rational positions, we can then negotiate in good faith. Ultimately I would like to get this to a UN Tribunal or similar forum to settle this. Unfortunately this can't happen right now. 1.) Iran is getting to much mileage out of "death to America." they need their foreign devil to justify their continued existence. Making peace right now would be problematic. 2.)Right now any such tribunal would simply be a kangaroo court that would simply rubber stamp anything and everything Iran would ask for. 3.)Should Iran owe America or the United Kingdom reparations for the assets they seized how do we collect. There's currently no mechanism in place to hold Iran to account for anything.
Perhaps someday these issues can be addressed and solved. Then we can get this to a tribunal. Right now this isn't workable.